inoteIrish National Organisation [ for Teachers of English] JANUARY 2011 YOUR ULTIMATE SOURCE OF NEWS MAGAZINE INOTE2019 MAGAZINE, AUTUMN 2019 1 EDITORIAL Welcome to the first INOTE Magazine. Over a year ago the INOTE Committee got together to discuss ideas, ideas that might positively impact our profession. One of those ideas was a magazine. Conor Murphy is an English teacher There’s something reassuring about the tangible aspects of a printed magazine, in Skibbereen Community School. A something you can hold, throw, spill coffee on (or at least make those lovely coffee colleague recently called him a ‘very cup rings). senior staff member’. Conor feels that the use of the word ‘very’ was unnec- We wanted something to promote INOTE, to discuss changes, to discuss new texts, essary. to have a bit of fiction, to have interesting articles related to our subject. Something constructive, something free of politics. You will find an article by Carl Hendrick discussing the new Junior Cycle but, as far as we could, we tried to remain encouraging in our approach. The magazine committee is made up of a wide spectrum of teachers in terms of how we view classroom teaching but one thing we all have in common is a love of our subject and we hope that this is what comes through most over the following pages. A special thank you to William Wall for judging our short story competition. Wall (writer of the recently released Suzy, Suzy as well as the poem Ghost Estate) was kind enough to give us a short comment on the three finalists, which you’ll find Kate teaches English and French at Lo- before Robert McDermott’s winning entry, On The Beach at Coronado. reto Secondary School, Fermoy. She writes a blog at www.ellenkmetcalf. wordpress.com and is currently the Also included are the winning Junior and Senior poetry entries. Once again we are reminded of the power of poetry to both inspire and help us explore those tricky ASTI subject representative for English themes that some find difficult to articulate. But we are always open to suggestions and contributions. If you have any ideas, any articles, any issues you want to discuss, or have discussed, just email us. Contact details are on page 10. But try and keep within the ethos of the magazine. And, of course, remember to spread the word about INOTE as you pass the maga- zine around the staffroom table, as you wipe the biscuit crumbs from between the pages. You too can get involved through here or through organising events in your local Education Centre. Just contact us through our website. Now, where is that coffee… Elaine Dobbyn is a teacher at St. Jo- seph’s Patrician College, ‘The Bish’, in Galway. She is a former Membership Secretary for INOTE and has worked Conor Murphy, Editor in the professional development of English teachers. She is also a regular contributor to the Written Word Leav- ing Cert supplement in the Irish Inde- pendent. 2 INOTE MAGAZINE, AUTUMN 2019 contents 04 NCCA INTERVIEW Conor Murphy poses the questions to Evelyn O’Connor 08 JUNIOR CYCLE DRAMA A guide to the drama on the Junior Cycle Curriculum 11,18,23,42 LIGHTBULB MOMENT Claire O’Brien is a Laois woman. She English Teachers share some of their teaching methodologies. teaches English and German at St Mary’s Academy CBS, Carlow, where 12 JUNIOR POETRY COMPETITION she is alsopage 2a debating/public speak- The top three poems from this years junior poerty competition. ing mentor. She moonlights as a jour- nalist and broadcaster, producing 14 FEATURE ARTICLE and presenting a weekly arts show Carl Hendrick discusses the issues associated with Junior Cycle Reform in Ire- on Midlands 103 radio. The book land and the UK she wishes she’d written is Truman 16 JUNIOR CYCLE NOVELS Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. A guide to the novels on this years Junior Cycle curriculum 20 LEAVING CERT NOVELS A guide tothe prescribed novels for Leaving Cert 2021 24 CBA: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR Claire Barry discusses the impact of the intoduction of Classroom Based page 12 Assessment in English 25 SHORT STORY COMPETITION William Wall judges the short story competition with the winning entry by Anthony McDermott printed on the subsequent pages 28 SENIOR POETRY COMPETITION Conor Enright is an English and History The top three poems teacherpage in 18St. Brogan’s, Bandon.page 10 In re- cent years he has taught himself IT and 30 JUNIOR CYCLE FILM is now compelled to fix computers and A guide tothe prescribed films for the Junior Cycle fulfill technological needs, like format- ting Subject Association Magazines. 34 LEAVING CERT FILM ___________________________________ A guide tothe prescribed film for Leaving Cert 2021 36 BOOK REVIEW Conor Murphy reviews Suzy, Suzy by William Wall Cover by John Nolan: 37 John Nolan 10 ACCOUNTS TO FOLLOW ON TWITTER makes a habit of 38 LEAVING CERT PRESCRIBED DRAMA always carrying a camera. Thank- A guide to prescribed drama on the Leaving Cert fully, pagemodern 24 smartphones 40 BILLY WILDER have made A profile of theSome Like it Hot director by Conor Murphy this easier and John used his 43 CBA VOX POP phone to cap- ture this im- Teachers voice their opinions on CBA age of sunset at an abandoned school in East Mayo. INOTE MAGAZINE, AUTUMN 2019 3 NCCA INTERVIEW Evelyn O’Connor is the outgoing Education Officer for Post Primary English, and the current Acting Director (Post Primary) for Curriculum and Assessment. We thought it would be interesting to find out a little about her, her job and the mechanics of the NCCA. Interview questions by Conor Murphy Can you tell us a little bit about your teaching background? _________________________________________________________________________ I did an Arts degree in English and French followed by my H.Dip in Education in NUIG. I’ve taught in a couple of different schools. In my alma mater, Ballyhaunis Community School, I did my teach- ing practice and one of my students was my little sister, which may have traumatised her for life. I next taught for a year in St Aloysius College in Athlone. After completing an MA in Film Studies in UCD, I taught in St Flannan’s College in Ennis for five years. I joined an incredible staff in Mount Saint Michael Secondary School in Claremorris. Over the years, as well as teaching English, French, History to Junior Cycle and media studies, I’ve run school concerts, an annual short story com- petition with the Clare Champion; directed plays for Arts Week; made short films with students; 4 INOTE MAGAZINE, AUTUMN 2019 You left the classroom to work for JCT and then the NCCA. Could you talk about the motivations behind those decisions? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ I was asked this question at interview for both positions. With JCT, I said I wanted to go through the looking glass and NCCA interview, to go further down the rabbit hole! I’d been having rich conversations about teaching English for years, both with friends on staff and through blogging, twitter and INOTE. Through conferences and #edchatie, I got to know a wide circle of English teachers, many of whom became and remain real-life friends. I relished having more opportunities for ongoing dialogue about the joys and tribulations of teaching, and teaching English specifically. Joining JCT felt like a chance to deepen my own knowledge and understanding, whilst having more of those dialogic conversations with other teachers that I was already having frequently online and in my school. I wanted to really understand from the inside out how education policy decisions are made, which was a strong motivator in my move to the NCCA. All that being said, I genuinely loved teaching, even with all of the challenges it brings, and it’s surprised me both how long I’ve been out of the classroom and also that I’ve been able to find a job that I like just as much, even though it’s so different from teaching. What does your job entail and what doesn’t your job entail (that some may think it does)? Could you give us a day-to-day or week-to-week outline of your job? How far does your position lean and interact across the subjects or is each subject rep contained within their subject? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ It’s a bit like school, you have a specific area of expertise that you mostly work in and you contribute to other areas as needed, broadening and deepening your expertise over time. The job of an NCCA education officer can depend on when you join but usually involves convening a development group to work on creating a curriculum specification, over a period of a couple of years. These groups are representative, usually consist of about 12 people and include subject teachers rep- resenting our two teacher unions, an inspector and an SEC representative who previously taught the subject, a represen- tative from the subject association and if it’s a senior cycle specification, from the university sector, plus a Chairperson and an NCCA education officer.There are also two spaces reserved on each development group that anyone can apply to fill. The NCCA education officer’s job is to organise meetings and follow up on decisions and feedback from the group. Once Council approves of the draft specification the group comes up with, the next step is to consult more widely with teachers and also with students, parents, third level colleagues and the general public on the draft specification and then to make changes to the draft specification before sending it to the Minister for approval and ultimately publication.